


Colder Weather

by Vanyel



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Also copious song lyrics, I'm a music junkie okay, M/M, and i really wanted to write this, no other spoilers here, thanks to the people who helped me choose characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-17
Updated: 2016-05-17
Packaged: 2018-06-09 01:45:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6883930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vanyel/pseuds/Vanyel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sniper hits the road. Without Medic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Colder Weather

Sniper sat up in the warm bed, sighing silently to himself. Now or never. He slid off, careful not to disturb the sleeping doctor, and walked over to the pile of clothing he’d tossed to the side earlier in the night. After glancing back to make sure Medic wasn’t waking up, Sniper opened the small closet. Pulling out the suitcase he’d hidden there earlier, he doubled back to set a note on the empty pillow, and take one last look at that wonderful sleeping face. Then he stepped out of the Medic’s bedroom, pulling the door closed behind him.

This had to be done suddenly, no turning back. If he knew that Sniper was leaving the base tonight, Medic’d trade Cactus Canyon if Sniper’d take him with him. And this was something that Sniper had to do alone. He closed the door before the winter let the cold in, or whatever passed for winter out here in the badlands.  
Dreaming, Medic reached out towards a Sniper trying to decide whether to believe some sort of angel promising him everything he could ever want. Medic didn’t want him to go, and he wondered if his love was strong enough to make him stay, watching him reach out to either accept or reject the offer helplessly. It was as if the Australian was moving in normal speed, but the doctor was stuck in slow motion, throat closed shut when he tried to scream.  
Some sort of loud revving noise jolted the doctor awake, and he panted for a moment, realizing it had all been a dream and sighing with relief Medic yawned, wondering what that gravelly noise that had woken him up was. After a moment, the question of where Sniper had gone came to mind as well. He was answered by the tail lights shining through the window pane.  
—————-  
“Sie denken, Sie können einfach laufen weg auf mich in der Mitte der Nacht und ich werde mich nicht zu kümmern? Und dann rufen Sie mich aus der Mitte von Nirgendwo, Colorado, wie nichts, was noch passiert? Du Hurensohn!”  
Sniper knew this conversation was going to be difficult, the first call back home to his lover. Sighing, he said “I wanna see you again, mate, but I had to take this job!” Sniper leaned one arm against the public phone booth, sighing at the angry tirade of indecipherable German that greeted him from the other line. “You know I can’t turn down something if the old lady says I gotta!” One of his fingers accidentally brushed the chilled metal, and he jumped as the biting cold sent a jolt down the already chilled digit.

  
The doctor quieted suddenly at the noise. “Liebe? Are…are you all right?” Medic could hear his teeth beginning to chatter slightly over the phone. It was a short pause before Sniper managed to respond, chuckling weakly.  
“I’m fine, it’s just…aw, shucks, I’d love to keep talking, but I’m stuck in colder weather than I was expecting, and I’m so used to the relative heat of the desert night that I didn’ even bother to pick up warm clothes. Like gloves that covered me fingers. They’re just a little chilled is all, love, but it’s makin’ it hard to hold onto the phone right now. Maybe tomorrow would be better. It’s supposed to warm up a bit by then, and I might make it to a time zone where we actually should both be awake and off work.” He let out a sigh, idly watching it mist over in the dying sunlight. “Shouldn’t need to be on the road at 6 your time. Can I call you then?”

  
Medic paused, tucking the phone between head and shoulder as he stripped off his gloves. “Nein, it would have to be some other day. Tomorrow, it’s checkup day for Soldier, and you know how long he can make a 20-minute procedure take.” They shared a laugh at that across the line. “Ve’ll find a way, Herr Sniper.”  
Sniper smiled to himself. “All right, I’ll call when I can, then. Love ya, doc.” He waited until the “ich liebe dich” echoed back before hanging up.  
————  
At a truck stop diner just outside of Lincoln, Sniper slumped over in his seat with a weary sigh. Another long day on the road, with only the rifle in the passenger’s seat for company. How long had he been gone? Two weeks? Three? It was quite the change from base, he thought, looking out of the frosted window. The night was blacker than the coffee he was drinking, a shift from the seemingly infinite stars that shone back in the desert. He softly wished for those pinpricks of light, the ones he’d sat under for hours with Medic, pointing out to him which constellations were helpful for orienting yourself out in the wild and watching the smiles spread across the doctor’s face.

  
“Anything else I can get for ya, hon?” The waitress came over for the fifth time since Sniper’d started the coffee, smiling. He shook his head once more, and she seemed to deflate a little, turning away. Swallowing, Sniper said, “Wait.”  
There was something about the way she looked when she turned back around that made Sniper not regret it, ordering a slice of apple pie to cover the fact that he just wanted to look at her. He had to make sure he wasn’t just imagining it. The woman had been looking at him the whole night, and something about it was familiar. He was pretty sure she was attracted, but something about that bothered him, and he wanted to know why.  
When she brought the pie, Sniper managed to slip down his aviators and look right at the waitress. He’d expected to see the infatuation maybe, something simple and pure and uncorrupted by time and the weariness of knowing a person. And in the waitress’ eyes he saw the same old light shining that had been in the Medic’s eyes just before they went to sleep the night he left. The memory came rushing back, and he could almost feel the flush come over his face as he ducked his head to cover it. The Medic still looked at him like a new attraction, like some puppy lover?

  
He stepped out into the night, still dazed from the realization. It had been a year and a half since Medic had approached him about a relationship beyond the purely work one they’d had. To think that the doctor was still that deeply, helplessly in love made Sniper nearly fall over as he climbed into the battered van.  
Sniper sighed, sitting back heavily in the driver’s seat. He thought of Cactus Canyon, and the man he’d left behind him. He’d never been so tempted to turn the van around right now and drive straight back to New Mexico, but he was too close now. No turning back. Sniper had to do this.  
———–  
“Nein! Nein, I am not going to let you just keep saying you’ll be back ‘soon’!” Medic spat into the phone angrily, cutting yet another one of Sniper’s apologies off. “I talked to zhe Administrator, and she told me jou had taken a leave. Not a job, leave! Jou lied to me!”  
Sniper froze, mouth hanging open in mid-retort. He closed it, swallowing slowly. “That-I-uh…” He sighed. “Yeah, this…this is something I had to do, alone,” he admitted heavily, “and if I’d told ya we both know you woulda insisted on taggin’ along. I’m sorry.”

  
Medic snorted. “Sorry? Is that what jou are? Nein, I know what you are,” he said. “You’re a rambling man, and jou are never going to change. That van has been your home for years. You turned down a heated room and real bed on base, for Gott’s sake!” His anger faded, replaced with an odd sort of resignation. “I guess I can’t really be mad at you directly. It’s just the way you are; you were never meant to settle down in one place with someone for any length of time. It’s not your fault you’ve got a gypsy soul to blame, and you were born for leaving.” He waved one of his doves off his shoulder, sighing. “I should never have expected anything else from a man who spent his life surviving in all of the harshest environments on zhis Earth in turn. Vell, vhenever jou finally do decide to come home, at least call. I’ll tell you vhere zhey ended up moving your things, because they’re certainly not vith me anymore.” With that, Medic hung up, no more to be said.  
Sniper stood, stunned, unable to catch up with the tirade. “W-wait!” The line was already dead.  
———–  
Sniper sighed to himself, leaning his head against the steering wheel. “It’s true what they say about love, innit? It’s a winding road when you’re in the lost and found,” he said weakly to his rifle sitting blankly on the seat. “I really messed this one up; he won’t even take the calls anymore. How can I apologize if he won’t let me talk?”  
The rifle said nothing back.  
————-  
“Please, just, listen for once!” He shut his eyes, praying that the next sound after the Medic’s tirade wound up wouldn’t be the dial tone once again.  
Medic finally quieted. “…I’m listening.”  
Sniper breathed a weak sigh of relief away from the phone, moving back to it quickly. “I know what I did makes no sense. Honestly, there’s probably a lot of better ways I coulda handled the whole thing. But…I’ll be honest, I’m a bit scared, of what we had. You mean so much to me, an’ I’ve never been that close to someone without them being suddenly taken away for one reason or another. It’s why I’m so used to shuttin’ myself away, being a loner, not dealin’ with the feelings. And somethin’ in the way you speak to me feels like it’s trying ta change that. It’s not a problem in an’ of itself, it’s just the way we are. You’re a lover, I’m a runner, an’ we go round and round tryin’ to figure somethin’ out.” He swallowed thickly. “I promise, after this trip is over, I’m comin’ home, and I’m not going so far as the store without you knowing exactly where I am, an’ offering to have you come along. If anyone could tie me down, it’s a man like you, Doc.” A weak chuckle escaped him over the line. “I know, it don’t sound normal, I love ya but I leave ya. But I swear on the ol’ van herself I was never plannin’ to run away completely, an’ I’ll tell you exactly what I was doin’ when I get back…if you’re willin’ to let me come home.”

  
The silence stretched on, Sniper breathing heavily, waiting to be hung up on and know they were done.

  
“Mein Gott, vhat is wrong with me?” Medic almost snarled into the phone. “After all this, I can’t…I don’t vant you, but I need you.” His tone softened. “Of course I’m willing to let you come home, you ignoramus, the doves have not shut up about you since you left! Now finish up whatever you’re doing and get back here before I break out zhe catering van and find you myself!”  
They shared a relieved laugh. “Ahh, mate, you know it’s you who calls me back, here, luv,” Sniper smiled into the receiver. “I should be turnin’ around soon enough, and then I’ll be back before ya know it.”

  
Medic sighed. “Gut, I’ve missed you something fierce. When I close my eyes, I see you, no matter where I am. Even out on the battlefield, I can feel the ghost of your dot on my forehead, like when you used to watch me throughout the war.” He leaned back in his chair, petting Archimedes resting on the arm.

  
“I can smell your cologne, through these whispering pines,” Sniper returned, looking out at the edge of the forest. “Funny how out in the wild, all I can think of is how clean you kept everything. Even me. Every time I step under a waterfall to get clean, I’m with your ghost again, in the showers.” He grinned, and Medic did as well, the same memory popping into their minds at the same time. “That is, until I step out and realize exactly how stupid you’d think me for showerin’ under melted snow water in the middle of winter.”

  
Raising an eyebrow, Medic shook his head. “It’s a shame about the weather out there for you, I’m sure it’d be much easier making zhis trip in the spring,” he commented, continuing when Sniper would have interrupted, “I know, I know, you had to go now for…some reason. All I’m saying is that you left suddenly, but I know we’ll be together. And I can’t wait until then.”  
“I can’t either, Doc,” Sniper returned. “I have to get back on the road now, but just know. Ick leeba dick.”

  
A loud, high-pitched giggle greeted him, and it took Medic almost a minute to recover enough to return, “I love you too, you idiot. Just come home safe.”

  
“I will, luv.” This time, the dial tone wasn’t so grating, the sound of Medic’s voice still ringing in his ears.  
——————————————–  
Sniper stood on the side of the road, illuminated by the setting sun over the hills. His van sat on the other side, parked and waiting for him. He reached up with one hand and removed his hat, staring down at a large wooden cross dug into the ground. A fresh bouquet of flowers lay in front, and a faded tie hung on the cross. “Oi miss ya too, luv,” he said to the grave, “but I think this is the last time I’ll be able to come out an’ see ya. There’s…well, there’s someone new, back at work. A Doc. I know you’d’ve liked him if you two could have met, and you always said that ya wouldn’ be mad if I ever moved on. Well, I did, an’ he’s…well, he’s still a little mad at me right now fer runnin’ out to come see ya without telling him anythin’, but I’m headin’ back to him, an’ I don’ think I’ll be coming back out here unless it’s with him.” He chuckled weakly. “Bloke’d probably remove me liver if I tried this shit again.” Sniper knelt, resting one hand on the cross and smiling softly, taking a moment to just remember the man buried underneath him.

“So I just…I wanted to say goodbye. I know someday, we’ll be together again, all three of us.” He stood slowly, putting his hat back on his head and smiling to himself. “I can’t wait til then.” Sniper stepped back onto the road, closing his eyes and tilting his head up to the sky as he ambled slowly towards his van.

A blaring noise broke him from his reverie, and Sniper opened his eyes just in time to see the semi racing towards him at sixty miles an hour, headlights freezing him in his tracks.


End file.
